Gallery

For those who prefer images to words, here are some photographs from the walk. Many of the photographs offer some connection to that day’s poem, so please feel free to keep the book open whilst flicking through the images.

Starting out at Dunnet Head, just after 8am.
January 3, 2015

Neverland? (Actually, Dunrobin Castle)
January 6, 2015

Meall Fuar-mhonaidh
The lonely mountain over Loch Ness (is there a dragon under the mountain?)
January 10, 2015

Better to be on the road than on trails.
January 11, 2015

The Great Glen at Loch Lochy.
January 12, 2015

Ben Hiant – The tiniest taste of Ardnamurchan.
January 15, 2015

Poor lil’ fella …
January 15, 2015

Sadly, no ‘Westernmost Point’ marker. Also, no one around to take my photograph so you get a ‘selfie’ and some stylised shots.
January 16, 2015

Some bonus photographs:
Here are a couple taken on the road between Kilchoan and Ardnamurchan Point.
January 16, 2015

More bonus photographs: here are a couple from my ‘Animal Family Portraits’ series.
January 16, 2015

A last look at Ardnamurchan. Here, Glen Tarbert.
January 18, 2015

A C-grade photograph of Glencoe; and the view out of my window, towards the car park, at the Kings House Hotel.
January 20, 2015

On the John Muir Way.
January 23, 2015

Fresh from the oven at Greggs in Bonnybridge.
January 24, 2015

The glass roof of Edinburgh’s Waverley Station.
January 27, 2015

The nothingness of Belhaven Bay, Dunbar.
January 28, 2015

Bad weather in Britain? Fortunately not where I was walking today. Here, a view towards Pease Bay.
January 29, 2015

This photograph is of Holy Island (it is just possible to make out the causeway on the right of the picture), which my good friend used to describe as the most amazing place in all the world.
January 30, 2015

A bonus photograph, but sadly, poor quality. Here, the enchanting Northumberland coast.
January 30, 2015

The two stone tablets which mark the border on either side of the A1 road.
January 30, 2015

Just a fortnight ago I was walking by the bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond; now, it’s the suburbia of North Tyneside.
February 2, 2015

So it’s not quite Sydney Harbour, but the Tyne Bridge is the best sight that I’ve seen for days.
February 3, 2015

Landsdowne Street, Darlington. Not exactly a popular place to live, it would seem. This is just one of a rash of nearby streets littered with estate agents’ signs …
February 4, 2015

… Just up the road were two shops offering short-term, high interest loans, another shop offering second-hand furniture, and a £5 barber; then there was a long row of closed shops, many offered ‘For Let’ with ‘easy terms’. A hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
February 4, 2015

The stone carvings above the Great West Door of York Minster; and a grainy photograph of York Minster’s Central Tower.
February 7, 2015

For those who recall previous poems, here’s a change in my life choices: my stick and swag rest on an upper bunk at York YHA.
February 7, 2015

This puts things into perspective: 12 miles to walk from the outskirts of York to Selby; a few more between Mercury and the Sun (the large steel ball in the top right hand corner).
February 8, 2015

Selby Abbey, as seen from my hotel room.
February 8, 2015

What distinguishes buildings from architecture? Pevsner famously quipped, ‘A bicycle shed is a building; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture.’
February 11, 2015

Ruskin claimed ‘that the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles.’
February 11, 2015

As a side-note, I was hit by a violent attack of hiccoughs upon entering Lincoln today, and had to rest awhile on a bench under a tree. This was the view as I looked up to the Heavens.
February 11, 2015

Cattle overlooking the River Witham (really, there was nothing more interesting today).
February 12, 2015

Leaving Boston, it was nice to see a sign pointing to my childhood home of Abbotsbury (though Abbotsbury in Sydney is perhaps a tad further away).
February 14, 2015

The last couple of days have been spent walking through seemingly endless acres of flat fenland.
February 14, 2015

The Trinity Guildhall in King’s Lynn.
February 15, 2015

A flock of oystercatchers at Huntstanton Beach.
February 16, 2015

Some lovely views today, though my lens is neither sharp enough nor sufficiently wide to do them justice. Here, a view of Holkam Beach.
February 17, 2015

The dunes which stand over the West of Holkham Beach.
February 17, 2015

Cromer’s historic pier at dusk; perhaps of particular interest to fans of the ‘Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa’ film.
February 18, 2015

A real shame that I did not quite frame this photograph well: these cliffs at Trimingham were spectacularly rugged.
February 19, 2015

The ruins of Caister Castle, one of many things which I did not know of before this walk. There is much serendipity that accompanies the route.
February 20, 2015

Just across the River Yare from Great Yarmouth is Gorleston Beach, a most pleasant place to spend a sunny Saturday morning.
February 21, 2015

Early afternoon at Ness Point, Lowestoft.
February 21, 2015

Two details from the Euroscope. One the left is the central marker; on the right, a nice reminder of what still lies ahead.
February 21, 2015

I pass by dozens of these signs each day. Do we ever think anything of the destinations which we do not reach?
February 23, 2015

I’ve had some good luck with empty churches. Here is the nave of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
February 25, 2015

The Chapel of King’s College gets a lot of tourist attention; yet, across the road is the equally notable Great St Mary’s: for trivia buffs, this is the place of origin for the 16 notes of the world-famous ‘Westminster Quarters’.
February 26, 2015

The queue outside King’s College Chapel for sung Eucharist. I was struck by the overwhelmingly awesome atmosphere once inside – but there are many photographs of the interior, taken in much better light and by much better photographers than me.
February 26, 2015

Stowe School from afar (too far it seems for my fixed 28mm lens).
March 2, 2015

One of the most enticing sights at Stowe: the school beagle pack out for afternoon exercise.
March 3, 2015

In the foreground, a memorial tree at Stowe.
March 4, 2015

Another day, another tree. This one sighted on the road to Bicester.
March 5, 2015

‘Cake Expectations’ on Botley Road, Oxford: an unexceptional shopfront, but in the window were some of the prettiest cakes I have ever seen, each telling its own Dickensian story. Apologies for the strong reflections in the glass.
March 7, 2015

Co-incidence, or something more? Yesterday I wrote about the man, today I pass a street named in his honour in Wootton Bassett.
March 8, 2015

Regardless of the poem, Frome is not quite as pleasant as I remember it. I struggled to find a nice aspect of the town for a photo, so here’s one taken with the conceit of a slow shutter, and with the good fortune of a passing fire engine.
March 10, 2015

High and dense hedges right up against the road are rather hazardous for a casual walker.
March 11, 2015

It is a pleasant feeling to be back in the countryside: even if the busy A30 road skims the edge of Dartmoor.
March 15, 2015

Though not exactly an island, passing the valve tower at Roadford Lake did make me think of Donne’s famous line: ‘No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe’.
March 16, 2015

This decrepit sign on the A388 marks the entrance to Cornwall, the last county I will pass through on this walk … From Caithness to Cornwall.
March 16, 2015

Something of the joys of just rolling into town and asking around for accommodation. I’m staying the night at the Eagle House Hotel, the most handsome building on Castle Street, which Betjeman described as having ‘the most perfect collection of eighteenth century townhouses in Cornwall’. Britannia stands atop the house, looking down at two Napoleonic eagles, as apparently (so the legend goes) Britain always looks down on France.
March 16, 2015

It’s nice to see the ocean again. Here, Polruan as seen from Fowey.
March 18, 2015

The stained glass windows in St Mary’s Aisle, at Truro Cathedral.
March 20, 2015

Thanks to this sign on the outskirts of Helston, I know where I’m heading tomorrow.
March 20, 2015

At Lizard Point, 12.05pm.
March 21, 2015

The rocks that jut out from Lizard Point. After so much walking, it’s quite a good feeling to know that it’s just not possible to walk any further, and that the only thing to do is to turn around.
March 21, 2015

A final postcard image. Here, Poldhu Cove, overlooked by the Poldhu Care Home (a scene which, to me, is reminiscent of Newport’s mansions).
March 21, 2015